


Two Weeks

by talkfastauburn



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Happy Ending tho, Love, M/M, Mashton, Sad, Time Jump, kidnapping :(, mentions of rape and abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:53:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23802637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talkfastauburn/pseuds/talkfastauburn
Summary: They say two weeks is the average survival rate for a kidnapping case. But what happens after seven years?
Relationships: Luke Hemmings/Calum Hood, Michael Clifford/Ashton Irwin
Kudos: 51





	Two Weeks

**Author's Note:**

> just a bit of a note: i dont think the two weeks thing is Actually true, i think its actually like the first 72 hours are the most crucial but i didnt really fact check or edit this as i wrote it at four am so <3

Ashton did his best to stay optimistic.

They say two weeks is normally around the time when ‘you shouldn’t lose hope, but maybe you should prepare for the worst.’ 

Ashton thinks that’s bullshit. 

They give you two weeks to grieve over the loss of someone so unbelievably special to you, and then expect you to just accept that they disappeared without a trace and they want you to be okay with it.

It’s bullshit. 

Ashton remembers when they were told the venue’s cameras caught the kidnapping on camera. He remembers seeing someone place something over Michael’s mouth and saw the blonde haired man struggle before he passed out. He remembers watching, unable to look away, as they dragged him across the parking lot and shoved him into some sort of truck before leaving.

Ashton thought maybe it was a ransom thing. They’d show up a few days later, ask for some crazy amount of money in exchange for the guitarist they snatched and Ashton and the other two boys would be willing to pay every cent in their accounts to get him back.

But seven years later, he’s proved wrong. 

No one ever asked for money. No one ever asked for anything. 

The next thing Ashton remembers is when word got out to the public about the kidnapping of 5SOS guitarist. Headlines ever read something along the lines of ‘Guitarist SNATCHED from hometown venue after concert!’ 

Ashton couldn’t bear to see the headlines anymore.

He remembers going online and seeing the post from his management team on the band account that only the band members ever had access to before, but he knows he’d never be able to make a statement himself.

@5SOS: We are so, so, deeply sorry to announce that the headlines are true. Our dearest Michael had been taken.

And that was the whole post. Ashton knew it wasn’t enough, he knew there would be fans crying for days, weeks, years maybe, but none of them would ever feel close to what Ashton felt.

He learned a few weeks later that the video from the security cams had been leaked. Live footage of Michael being taken was all over the internet for everyone to see.

Michael had trended in some way, shape, or form for a whole year after he vanished. Whether it be a hashtag from fans showing their support or news companies giving fake news about Michael’s case, he was always #1 on the trending list. 

Ashton tried his best to stay optimistic.

He knew Calum and Luke were trying to as well, even if they didn’t show it much. They had gotten engaged only a couple of weeks before Michael was taken, and they kept saying ‘we aren’t ready for the wedding yet.’

But Ashton knew that was just their way of saying ‘we can’t get married without Michael there.’

And he understood. Because he wouldn’t be able to get married without Michael either. He wouldn’t have his husband-to-be at the altar with him. 

Ashton missed his boyfriend. 

A lot of people kept telling him that he should try and date someone else, he should try and move on. ‘It’s been seven years...’ 

Ashton didn’t care. He and Michael had never broken up and until he either had Michael back in his arms or it was confirmed he’d never hold him again, Ashton wouldn’t allow himself to move on.

No amount of time or distance would change the fact that Michael Clifford is his boyfriend.

-

Ashton visits Michael’s parents as often as he can.

Karen and Daryl are probably the only people in the world who have it harder than Ashton. Their only child, their little boy, has been taken away from them.

First, by the band— by fame. He was swallowed up in the stage lights and guitar strings but at least then he still managed a phone call at least once a week and a visit home once every six months. 

But now, there’s been no calls, no visits. Again, they try to stay optimistic but they don’t even know if their little boy is alive. 

All they have now is their missing son’s broken boyfriend who is doing his absolute damnedest to make sure they’re okay. And for now, that’s okay.

They’re getting older, and Daryl was diagnosed with lung cancer forty years in the making about three years ago. They don’t know how long they have left with him.

Ashton just hopes Michael is back to see his dad at least one last time.

It’s currently November 20, 2025, seven years after Michael was taken from them.

It’s his birthday, and Ashton is spending it with Michael’s parents in Michael’s old bedroom. 

It looks like a stereotypical teenagers bedroom, except for the toy crate in the corner that Michael never wanted to part with, and of course his parents didn’t either. And he still had sheets covered in little green and blue dinosaurs on his bed. 

While Karen was running her fingers over the All Time Low and Green Day posters on the wall and Daryl was sitting on Michael’s bed, Ashton was digging through the toy crate. He remembers Michael telling him about a green monster truck that he’d wedged a guitar pick into when he was 11. That’s what he looking for.

The only noises in the room were Karen’s occasional sniffles, the sound of Daryl’s oxygen tank, and Ashton rummaging through the old toys.

When he finally pulled the monster truck out and saw the MC carved onto the hood, he rattled it a bit, hearing the guitar pick shake around inside of the truck.

And he broke down.

He felt the first sob rip through his body, starting in his toes and running up to the tips of his ears. 

Karen had apparently moved onto the collection of Lego cars balanced on Michael’s bookshelf, and Ashton’s sobs had startled her so had that she dropped the one she was holding, a Batmobile he built when he was eight, and it shattered across the hardwood floors.

That’s kind of how Ashton felt at the moment.

He had shattered, just like that Batmobile.

-

Michael’s thirtieth birthday in 2025 was definitely the hardest day since his disappearance.

Ashton, Michael, Calum, and Luke always vowed they’d be together when each of them turned thirty.

So far, Ashton had hit that milestone and all he had was three bottles of whisky, a bottle of tequila, a bottle of vodka, and Luke and Cal. 

As long as they had known each other, they always talked about how they wouldn’t stop playing music just because they were thirty. They planned to still being traveling around the world playing shows to their fans, new and old, and releasing their seventh album. 

But instead, Ashton’s thirtieth was full of drinking to forget and Michael’s was full of Ashton crying in Karen Clifford’s arms.

He often felt bad for crying around her. Her son was missing and her husband was dying yet Ashton just had to make it about himself. 

“It’s not fair,” he’d cried, soaking her blouse with his tears, “I miss him, mama. I miss him so much.”

She just smoothed out his hair and kissed his forehead and replied with a bunch of “I knows” and “it’s okay, loves.” 

He finally stopped crying after three hours. 

He checked his phone, and Twitter, for the first time that day.

He saw Calum’s tweet first.

@Calum5SOS:  
it’s been seven long years without you. we miss you more than you’ll ever know. i hope you’re okay, mikey, wherever you are. happy 30th, mate. i love you. #happybirthdaylostboymgc

The hashtag had trended on Michael’s birthday every year. It had a small emoticon next to it of a little Michael. It’s hair constantly changed colors. Lost Boy from their first album was played on repeat by all fans for the entirety of the day and it always ended up back on the charts again and again.

Next, he saw Luke’s tweet. It was a picture of a handwritten letter, accompanied by the hashtag.

@Luke5SOS: #happybirthdaylostboymgc  
It’s still so weird to wake up on November 20th and not be able to tell you “happy birthday, you old fucker,” and I’d do anything to be able to bully you for those eight months you have on me. I hate that I can’t sit here and yell at you about how lame it is that you’re thirty now. I can’t poke fun at how me and Cal are still in our 20s, and you and Ash are old farts. Instead, I’m sitting here in bed, looking at old pictures and watching videos of us on stage. I’m watching you at that final show before everything went downhill and crying as I see how happy you are, absolutely killing it on your guitar. I’m sitting here questioning when I’ll ever see you again, and how you’re feeling wherever you may be. I hope you’re at least somewhat okay. I know it’s terrifying for you. I’m sorry this happened, Mike. I love you and miss you more than you’ll ever now. Happy birthday.

Ashton was crying reading Luke’s note and before he knew it, he’d retweeted it.

Ashton hadn’t done anything on Twitter since December 16, 2018, the night Michael disappeared. 

So, of course, his notifications began exploding. Ashton Irwin was active on Twitter for the first time since 2018.

He sat there for hours attempting to write out a tweet for Michael or at least answer some fans, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t seem to put it into text what exactly he wanted to say.

So he did what he always used to when he had something important to say. He began to record.

He was still in Michael’s room, and he found himself staring into the camera of his phone, running a hand over his face. 

“I don’t even know where to begin,” he started, feeling tears coming already.

“Seven goddamn years. Seven birthdays. You’re thirty now, Mike. Holy shit. We’d always talked about how we’d still be rocking out at shows at this age. You’d always joke around saying I’d have arthritis all over my body by the time I was thirty from all the drumming, but so far I’m thirty one and still killing it on ‘em. It’s harder without you, though. I still play, because I know that if you come back and I’ve forgotten, that you’d kick my ass.”

Ashton felt a tear fall and he quickly wiped it away.

“I don’t even think you’ll see this. But you have to know, I’m sitting in your old room right now, at your parents house. I found the guitar pick in the monster truck that you told me about when we were eighteen. I don’t even know how I remembered but as soon as I set foot in here, I knew I had to find it. So I did, but I started crying. Your mum had to calm me down. I’m okay now though, for the most part. Not really. We miss you so much. And we can’t wait to get you back. Happy birthday, baby. Hopefully you’ll be here for the next one.”

He stopped recording and quickly uploaded the video to Twitter with the hashtag before he could psych himself out. 

The little emoticon Michael had green hair when Ashton tweeted it and he felt like it was a sign. The green was Ashton’s favorite.

He hoped he’d get to see it again someday. 

-

It was the seventh anniversary of Michael’s disappearance. December 16, 2025.

Ashton was with Calum and Luke and they were all huddled on the small couch in their shared house(it’s technically only Calum and Luke’s but Ashton has taken residence there for a bit. He can’t stand to be alone at this time of year.). They were all crying, and occasionally one of them would mumble about how much they miss Michael. 

Ashton had checked Twitter again that day, and it was bittersweet to see another hashtag.

#wishwewerebesideyou

They always managed to use a song or a lyric as the tag, and Ashton never knew whether to laugh or cry. 

He had tweeted again, this time words and not a video. It was his first tweet since Michael’s birthday.

@Ashton5SOS:  
it’s officially been seven years without you here with me. it’s almost christmas and i have a stack of presents for you hidden away in a closet from the past seven years. you gotta come home so you can get them. #wishwewerebesideyou

The replies came in quick, and Ashton made sure to like a few of them. 

@forevermgc:  
i have some gifts for you too, mikey. you have to come play another show in houston so i can give them to you.

@tarairwin:  
come home soon, gamer guy. we miss you so much <3

@missumikey  
we love you so much ash. hope you’re doing okay. dont forget that we’re all here for you.

The last one hit Ashton hard. He hadn’t really paid attention enough to see any of the fans saying things like that to him. 

It felt nice.

-

It was 2:00 AM on January 13, 2026 when Ashton’s phone began ringing on the bedside table. He was finally falling asleep, sandwiched between Luke and Calum when the ringtone began going off. 

He heard a groan from his left side where Calum had his face buried in the back of Ashton’s neck, “Don’t answer it, we’re sleeping.”

Ashton agreed, and let it ring. But then it began again. 

“I have to get it, Cal. It’s apparently important.”

Calum slowly let him go, and allowed the honey haired boy to reach over and grab his phone. He didn’t recognize the number but he answered it anyway.

“Hello?”

There was a small gasp on the other side, and then a woman’s voice came through the speaker.

“Is this Ashton Irwin?”

He hummed an affirmative response, and sat up a bit straighter.

“Mr. Irwin, this is Officer Pass with the Sydney Police,” she paused, and Ashton felt his breath hitch. 

Tears began to well up in his eyes. Is this the part where they tell him they found Michael dead in an abandoned truck?

“Um, yeah, okay. What is it?” Ashton felt Calum sitting up behind him and heard Luke whining a bit, but sitting up nonetheless.

“I want to make sure you’re completely awake and aware of what I’m saying right now. Are you awake enough to take in some information?”

“Yes, um, yeah. I’m up.” 

He was really worried now. Normally that was something they said when they were calling to tell you someone was in an accident or found dead in an alleyway.

“Okay, we have good news, Ashton. Michael has been found. And he’s alive.”

Ashton let out the biggest sob he’d ever felt in his entire life. 

“Oh my god,” he cried into the phone, “where?”

“Do you think you could come down to the hospital? We can fill you in there. This is a lot to take in over the phone.”

Ashton immediately agreed, and they said their goodbyes as Ashton was climbing over Luke and out of the bed.

“We have to go. Right now, come on. We gotta leave. Hospital. Have to go. Please. Have to. Got to. We have to leave,” Ashton was rushing to get his jeans on, and he sighed when he saw Calum and Luke not getting dressed. 

“Come on, have to go. We have to. We gotta leave. What are you doing? Get up!” 

Calum walked over to him and Ashton didn’t even notice until he felt the man’s hands on his shoulders. “Ashton!”

Ashton immediately stopped rambling. “Where are we going, and why?”

Ashton was so caught up in the news that he forgot to tell Calum and Luke. 

“Hospital. They found him.” 

-

The drive to the hospital felt like it took hours when in reality it was no more than fifteen minutes. 

When Luke, who seemed most okay to drive, pulled into the parking lot, it finally struck Ashton what had happened. 

“Michael is in there. Holy fuck, Mikey is alive. He’s okay and he’s in that hospital and it’s been seven years and he’s in there.” 

He couldn’t stop crying and rambling the whole way into the hospital and he was sure he looked insane, sobbing and talking to himself.

The other two were still a mess but they seemed a bit more put together than Ashton so when they walked through the front doors and saw the six police officers and couple of doctors standing by the elevators, Calum immediately led them that direction. 

He caught their attention and a small blonde woman stepped forward. “Ashton, Calum, and Luke? I’m Dr. Maruvadi. These are the detectives and officers that have been working on Michael’s case. 

“They have a few things they need to tell you about and then we can take you upstairs to Michael’s room. It’ll be one at a time, and you cannot touch him unless he asks. He’s extremely terrified of touch and loud volumes so speak quietly, okay? He’s in bad shape. But from what we can tell, he will physically be okay. Mental state is obviously a whole different story, but we’ll discuss more after the officers speak to you, okay?”

They all just nodded. Ashton couldn't believe he was finally able to see his boy after seven years. Over two thousand days without his best friend, his rock, his love. 

The doctors began going into details of what happened in Michael’s case and Ashton wasn’t hearing much of the small stuff like clues on how they found him and such, but instead focused on the part of the conversation he had never wanted to hear in his life.

“A man by the name of Jeffery Irwin was convicted on cases kidnapping, torture, rape, attempted murder, and a whole lot more. But he will be gone for a long time. Him and his whole crew we have caught and they’re being taken to a German prison, far away from you guys.”

 _Jeffery Irwin._ Ashton’s own father. He felt sick all of a sudden. His own father left him when was 3 but came back twenty years later to kidnap, torture, and _rape_ his boyfriend? 

This is all Ashton’s fault. That’s all he could think. 

And then he collapsed.

-

When he woke up, his head was resting in Luke’s lap. He didn’t know how long he’d been out for, but he felt like it’d been hours.

“Hey, Ash.” 

Ashton blinked a few times and looked up at the youngest man. “Luke? What-”

“You passed out. It’s been about thirty minutes but we weren’t gonna go see him without you. Are you okay? What happened?”

Ashton was silent for a few minutes, just starinf up at Luke.

“My father. It was my father. Jeffery Irwin. That’s my father. I haven’t seen him since I was three years old. Why did he have to come back now and ruin everything? It’s not fair, Lukey. He hurt Mike and our families and out fans and he hurt us and so many people. Why would he do that?”

Luke just ran his fingers through Ashton’s hair and shushed him softly. “That man isn’t your father. He’s simply your sperm donor and that’s all. He lost all rights of being your dad when he left. And now, he’s even farther away from you. He’s not your father. Okay?”

Ashton just nodded. “Can we go see Mikey now?”

-

Ashton didn’t know what he was expecting. A few bruises, cuts maybe, not this.

Michael, his Michael, was almost unrecognizable. If it wasn’t for those bright green eyes, Ashton might not have known who he was. 

Michael was in the ICU, and the other three and a doctor stood outside, looking in through the window. The doctor was telling them how to behave around him. Ashton was going first, and he was terrified. 

They had called Karen and Daryl, and the two were almost to the hospital and Ashton wanted to let them go first but he couldn’t stand to be this close to his Michael and not go speak to him as soon as possible. 

Michael was looking around and he locked eyes with Ashton through the glass. Ashton almost collapsed again when he saw a smile so small appear on Michael’s face that you wouldn’t know it was there unless you knew what to look for. 

The doctor finished telling them to be quiet around him and not to touch him without permission and no quick movements right before opening the door and allowing Ashton in.

“Mikey…”

The poor thing was so tiny, his face sunken in and his arms so thin from malnourishment. 

“Ash?” 

Michael’s voice was so tiny and scratchy, seeming like he hadn’t used it in years. Maybe he hasn’t.

Ashton smiled—a real genuine smile— for the first time im seven years. 

-

Four months later, Michael was being released from the hospital. 

He was still quite thin, and loud noises still bothered him. He was scared of a lot of touch and he didn’t like it when anyone other than Ashton cuddled him. 

He hated being touched anywhere below the waist, not even his ankles. He couldn’t breathe when someone placed a hand on his cheek unless it was his mother and he cried when anyone mentioned the word ‘kidnapping.’

Ashton was so happy to have him back. They hadn’t told the fans yet, but a lot was speculating with how often paparazzi caught Ashton, Calum, Luke, and their families leaving the hospital. 

They decided to release a statement a few hours before they walked Michael out, so that he would hopefully not get bombarded by cameras. 

@5SOS, started a thread:  
Four months ago, on January 13, 2026, Michael was found and brought home to us. We cannot explain the joy we felt knowing that our lost boy was being returned to us.  
Thank you to everyone who has stuck by us through this, and kept up the positivity and optimism to get Michael back. Because it all paid off.  
These have been the hardest seven years of all of our lives, especially Michael’s, so we ask for privacy around this time. Michael is still vulnerable to a lot of things, but he is recovering. We’ve mostly been very adamant on keeping a smile on that face of his.  
Michael wants you guys to know that he misses you, and he wanted us to say he’s sorry but we won’t allow him to apologize for something like this.  
Thank you all for the support. We couldn’t have done this without your wonderful hashtags and daily positivity. Thank you all. Love, Cal, Ash, Luke, and especially Mikey. 

They were told there would be a police escort from the second Michael stepped out of his hospital room all the way until they arrived at Luke and Calum’s house and they’d always have someone patrolling the street. 

Ashton was happier now than he had been in seven whole years. He couldn’t believe he’d finally be bringing his lost boy home. 

-

Adjusting to life at home after seven years of fear and pain and struggle was hard for Michael. 

Ashton woke up constantly to Michael screaming in bed next to him from nightmares or just getting freaked out if Ashton accidentally touched his waist in his sleep. 

Sometimes Michael didn’t want to eat, and he’d mutter something along the lines of ‘he’ll be upset,’ but Ashton could always coax him into taking at least a few bites. 

Michael didn’t like it when Ashton played his drums for a while because of the noise but soon it became a daily routine for him to sit in the house’s studio with Ashton while the boy played his drums.

Ashton had been trying to get him to pick up a guitar for the past two months, but he always refused until May. Ashton didn’t even know the man had gone into the studio but as he walked past and heard noises of frustration coming from inside, he had to check it out. 

There he was, sitting on the floor with an acoustic guitar, trying to play what sounded like Voodoo Doll.

“Baby?” 

Ashton told Michael while he was still in the hospital about how he still called Michael his boyfriend even after all those years and it made Michael cry, but he kissed the older man finally. He had been so scared but he did it. And Ashton was so proud of him.

“Yeah?” Michael responded, trying to position his fingers on the right chords. 

“What’s up?” 

Michael groaned as he played the chord wrong and Ashton walked up to him and sat on the floor next to him.

“I forgot how to play, Ash.”

Michael sounded so broken. 

“We can reteach you. It’ll be okay, love.”

Ashton frowned when tears began to drip down Michael’s face. “No, it won’t! I was kidnapped and tortured for seven years! I don’t know anything about the world. My dad is dying. You’re probably getting sick of my crying all of the time. Calum and Luke probably hate that we live in their house. And on top of it all, I forgot how to do the one thing I’m supposed to be good at! How is any of that okay?”

Ashton’s heart broke as Michael threw the guitar across the room, effectively snapping the neck away from the body before immediately flinching at the loud noise. 

He shushed Michael and wrapped him up tight in his arms, running a hand through his hair. 

“And that’s okay, Mikey. You’re not expected to be perfectly okay right now. You were kept away from everyone for seven years. You were tortured for seven years. You were all alone and scared for seven years. I’m not mad that you cry. Hell, I might cry more than you. Cal and Luke aren’t made we’re in their house, they love you so much and they’re just so happy you’re back here with us.

“And for your dad, he’s strong. And so are you. I’m not going to promise he’s gonna be perfectly fine but I can promise that you will be okay, no matter what. You are the strongest person I know, and I love you more than anyone in this world. And I’m gonna reteach you that guitar if it’s the last thing I do.”

Michael was crying into Ashton’s chest at this point but his tears began to stop after a while. 

“I love all of you guys, so much. You’ll never know. You were all I thought about the whole time. I kept fighting, I stayed alive in there, for you guys. I knew I’d see you again some day. I didn’t lose hope for a moment.” 

Ashton couldn’t help but snap a picture of Michael snuggled up to his chest. 

He went to Twitter, choosing the picture and typing up the perfect caption. 

@Ashton5SOS:  
they say 2 weeks is the average of how long a kidnapping victim usually survives. but here we are, seven years later, and you’re smiling up at me and i know it’s all going to be okay.


End file.
